Homunculus: The Adventures of Langdon St Ives, Book 1

In 1870s London, a city of contradictions and improbabilities, a dead man pilots an airship and living men are willing to risk all to steal a carp. Here, a night of bangers and ale at the local pub can result in an eternity at the Blood Pudding with the rest of the reanimated dead.... A comic science-fiction novel first published in 1986. It took the Philip K Dick award that year, and was the second book in Blaylock's loose steampunk trilogy, following The Digging Leviathan (1984) and preceding Lord Kelvin's Machine (1992).

Katherine says:"Over the top in the right kind of way"

Publisher's Summary

A suddenly appearing curiosity shop owned by a small man who might, or might not, be the Man in the Moon; a pair of strange spectacles buried in a fishbowl full of marbles; an old window glazed with sea-green glass found beneath a suburban house; and two adventurous boys who but the spectacles and climb through the window into a land of goblins, ghosts and rope ladders that reach to the moon.

Who exactly is Mr Deener, the fat man who makes magic out of bits of coloured glass, has a passion for glazed doughnuts, and whose seeming twin brother sleeps fitfully in an attic room? And who are the little men that rise out of the forest on windblown sycamore leaves in order to whisper into Mr Deener's ear? Is Mr Deener, like a fallen humpty Dumpty, broken apart? John and Danny need to know.

To find their way home they'll have to put Mr Deener back together again and solve the mystery of the sleeping land - a task that leads them to the pool of reflections in the deep woods and ultimately to a house built of light and magic and memory that sits at the edge of the heart's ocean...

What the Critics Say

"Blaylock is better than anyone else at showing us the magic that secretly animates our world..." (Tim Powers)"Blaylock is a true one-of-a-kind original." (Neil Gaiman)"Blaylock's prose is so rich it literally stings!" (Charles de Lint)"Blaylock allows us to see the mundane world through new eyes, to perceive the familiar as strange, and therefore exciting." (Charles de Lint)"Blaylock’s evocative prose and studied pacing make him one of the most distinctive contributors to American magical realism." (Library Journal)"James P. Blaylock has proved himself to be among the front-running authors working in speculative fiction." (Rick Kleffel)"Blaylock is a singular American fabulist" (William Gibson)"Blaylock allows us to see the mundane world through new eyes, to perceive the familiar as strange, and therefore exciting." (Charles de Lint)"A writer of great vigor, charm, and perception." (Bruce Sterling)